The Destroyer Book 4 (46 page)

“You didn’t understand what they said?” My heart was beginning to calm.

“Did you?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. They spoke our language. I am sure of it.”

“No, Sister. Are you sure you understood what they said?” Nyarathe’s careful tone did not imply she did not believe me, but her words carried an edge of concern.

“Yes. Maybe I can make it speak again.” I regretted the words as soon as I voiced them but I didn’t want my sister to think I was incapable of understanding our own language, nor did I want her to know how weak I felt.

As soon as I touched the World and began to create fire the device sprang to color and life again. The same image of the two humans along with the map floated above the device. I translated what they said to Nyarathe as they spoke.

“That map is familiar,” she said after I made the images appear once again so she could commit the conversation to memory. “Yes, look here.” She pointed at the curve of the mountain range.

“It is this range,” I said.

“Do you think these other two stones might have images and voices as well?” She picked up the next rock and exchanged it with mine.

“Perhaps.” I didn’t care to see what secrets lived inside of these devices. What mattered was that we stopped these humans from destroying our people, not figuring out what may have happened thousands of years ago.

“How do you understand the words?”

“I am a Singleborn.” I smiled at her and she snorted with annoyance.

I pulled on more of the World and the colors and sounds erupted again. It was the same man and woman, but the exchange was different.

“She destroyed the original unit. I sent five more, but I fear they encountered the same fate,” the male said. His face looked drawn and thinner than it had in the first floating image.

“This is your top priority. Take care of her personally. Send your entire command.” I could not smell anything through the device, but I didn’t need that sense to understand the anger in the woman’s voice.

“My entire command? Can you send assistance?” His voice became faint and the image began to blur.

“Are you there?” the woman asked. She repeated the words but the sound of screams and thunder pulsed from the stone as an answer. The woman asked the question two more times and then the device faded to black. I told my sister what they said and she nodded.

“Use the last one.” Nyarathe gave it to me and I repeated the process that activated the device.

“I confirmed that it is Recatolusti’catri and she has a mate, Golaritva’nrit?” the male asked.

“Why aren’t they dead yet?” the woman demanded. Her eyes did not look at his and I wondered if each of them communicated into a different stone from a great distance apart.

“She spoke to me and said that she cared not for her purpose and wanted to help us reach Lenaan. Her assistance could be useful.” The male spoke rapidly but the words were still easy for me to understand.

“The reason you are stationed in that outpost is because of your incompetence. Your ridiculous logic confirms that I made a good decision. Now I wish I had sent someone more useful to your location. Kill the dragons or I will end you and replace you with less of an idiot.”

“Yes, General.” The human was obviously terrified of the woman and he pushed his hand outward in a salute. Then the image faded and I related their words to my sister.

“This came second, then that was last.” I pointed at the stone in my hand and then the one we had just viewed.

“I bet you and this human woman would get along.” Nyarathe smiled. I nodded but didn’t want to tell her what my nerves told me: the woman terrified me in a way I had never felt before. I had never been scared by anything and I wondered if this was how Kaiyer and his humans felt around my people.

“Something happened at the end of the third conversation,” I said.

“Maybe this dragon attacked the base?” She shrugged and began to search through the pile of wood. “Why don’t you go back to your tent and rest? If I find more of these orbs we can view them together.”

“I am fine to stay.”

“No, Sister. You haven’t rested in weeks. You are so tired you are shaking. To bed with you!”

I thought about arguing, but the weight of the exhaustion combined with the subsiding terror the images brought me felt impossible to bear anymore. I walked up the stairs to the base floor and told the sergeant there to attend to my sister.

As I returned to my tent, I thought of the images of the humans and the words they had spoken. The name of the dragons bounced around in my head until my skull ached. Those strange humans were attempting to reach Lenaan.

According to our lore, Lenaan was the name of the land where the Gods lived and created all life. Why would a dragon want to help the humans? The Gods created the dragons to help fight the humans. I tried to give up on the questions as my headache increased in agony, but they would not subside until I returned to my pavilion and let Relyara massage my body to sleep.

I drifted through the air with my limbs outstretched, coasting like the white raptors that swooped and squawked around me. My will powered my ascent, but I could only climb for a moment before the call of gravity pulled me down onto another island.

I bounced between the islands with careless tumbles. I chased the birds. I dove into crystal clear pools of water. I flew after the brightly painted ships that floated in the distance, like fish through the deep.

I could never catch them.

I heard a shout, yet I was the only one here. The voice called again. I looked all around but confirmed I was alone. Then the shout sounded to my right, from an island five miles in the distance. I just wanted to be alone. I wanted them to stop calling me.

The figure approached. It was a man, small in stature, mostly bald. He beckoned to me and I angled my fall to land next to him.

“Hello Kaiyer!” The few straggles of hair left on his head fell down in thin white strips like spider webs. Though I stood a few feet from the old man he made an exaggerated wave with both arms as if a great distance separated us.

“Hello,” I said to him.

“I’ve missed you old friend. Can you smile for me?” he asked and his wrinkled face split into a grin.

“Do I know you?” I found my lips mirroring his movement with a smile.

“Yes!” He clapped his hands enthusiastically and skipped around. He acted more like a child than an old man.

“I don’t remember.” The old man did seem familiar, but I would have remembered someone so odd.

“Can you try? Do you recall my name?” He bobbed his head sideways as if he was dancing to music that I could not hear. I searched my memories and found the name that fit the old man.

“Entas?” I asked.

“Yes!” He screamed with delight and performed a series of cartwheels and summersaults. I felt my smile grow. The small man’s joy seemed sincere and was more than infectious.

“You got it quick that time! Yesterday was a battle.” He sprung to his feet and then clapped his hands together fiercely.

“Yesterday?”

“Yes, we spoke yesterday, and the day before that. We speak all the time. Do you remember?” His smile dropped from his face and his eyes flashed. I tried to remember speaking to the man yesterday, but I didn’t even recall the sun rising that morning. It always seemed to be daytime here on the islands. I only then realized how strange that was.

“Whoa. Careful. Don’t hurt yourself. If you overthink this place, it has a way of ensuring that you lose more than your memories.” He placed a hand on my shoulder and the touch was familiar.

“I do know you. But I can’t remember how. We are friends?” I asked.

“Of course! Best of friends!” He smiled again and jumped from foot to foot. “You have another friend here also. Do you want to see her?”

“I don’t know.” I didn’t recall having any friends, but I knew that this strange old man was close to me. Then I realized I had already forgotten his name and I struggled to remember. Entas?

“We can just play for a bit, and then I’ll ask you again,” he replied.

“Play?”

“Of course! Try to catch me!” He sprung into the air with a gleeful yelp and shot away. I watched him for a few seconds and then smiled.

“Come on, Kaiyer!” he called and I gave chase.

The old man was quick and I was unable to land a hand on him after numerous attempts. On my tenth try he got cocky and spun to face me while he bounded away. When I still couldn’t get him he stuck his tongue out at me. I felt a bit of frustration that he continued to escape, but then he accidently jumped into a lake of water that sat bowled in one of the islands.

“Akkk! I can’t swim! Save me!” He frantically waved his arms about and spat water out in a stream of croaking burps.

“It isn’t that deep.” I grabbed him by the shoulders and stood him upright. The water came up to his chin, but only reached my navel.

“You are correct, but when something is unfamiliar, it seems more daunting than it is.”

“That makes sense.”

“So do you want to see your friend? She is nice. I promise.”

“Do you think I should meet her?” I frowned and tried to remember the man’s name. He had just told me a few hours ago but I could not recall it. Something about him seemed familiar.

“Yes! You two have been friends for a long time. Longer than you and I have been friends in actuality.” The strange man seemed happy with my question but I suddenly wanted to jump away and float again through the clouds between the islands.

“Hey Kaiyer! Pay attention.” He tapped me in the center of the chest where my ribs met.

“Sorry. Where are we going?” It no longer bothered me that I couldn’t remember the old man’s name. He would probably remind me again. I felt like I should have remembered though. Were there other things I had forgotten?

“To see your friend!” He jumped away and I followed. The motion felt familiar and I recalled that we had been playing a game earlier where I tried to catch him. Or did we? I could only remember chasing the birds and the distant ships.

“She is only a few more jumps away!” He spun backward in the air when he called out to me. I scanned the islands ahead and wondered what my friend looked like or what her name was.

Then I saw her.

She was like a beacon of red fire and I wondered how I had not noticed her before. The islands were soft swirls of bright green, rich brown, and pale blue, floating lazily through a cerulean sky. The red of her hair made all the other colors dull in comparison. My vision filled with the sight of her and nothing else mattered.

“Iolarathe!” She was still a few miles away and I doubted that she heard my scream, but she raised her arm and waved at me. She smiled.

“How did you both get here?” I grabbed Entas when he jumped past me.

“We’ve always been here. So have you. Do you remember now?”

“No. What are you talking about?” I felt my stomach clench when I recalled the last time I spoke to the man. “Wait. Entas, you are dead. Is this a dream?”

“Do you think it is a dream?” He pointed at the Elven woman a few islands away. “If it is, then you should try not to wake up.” My stomach clenched again and I felt the air escape my lungs.

Then I started to fall.

“No!” I heard her scream. She was so close now, only a few hundred yards away, but I missed my landing and fell. I looked down to angle my body to the next island below me but my stomach seized again. There were no islands beneath me. Just endless blue sky and fluffy ivory clouds that I passed through effortlessly.

“No! Kaiyer!” she screamed above me. I was falling and I couldn’t breathe.

Then Iolarathe was gone.